Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Putting a Good Face on Richard lll

Last month I posted a piece about the find and subsequent battles over Richard III's remains and ultimate resting place. Well, today the story goes one better. Apparently there is much hand-wringing and historical unease about these old bones and the legends they spawned. The Guardian has been all over this story like a bad suit. The historians are in a tizzy and there appears to be no end in sight. Here is the latest.

The face of a thin-lipped, bright-eyed man, with a truculent jaw
ready to confront whatever bad news comes next, has been recreated from
the male skull discovered under a Leicester car park, newly confirmed as the last Plantagenet king, Richard III.
The
monarch was only 32 when he died on the Bosworth battlefield on 22
August 1485, but the reconstructed face appears much younger. He may not
live up to the crook-backed psychopath of Shakespeare's Tudor
propaganda, but he does look a tough character not to be trifled with.
The face was reconstructed from detailed scans of the skull by Caroline Wilkinson, professor of craniofacial identification at Dundee University,
who has worked on many modern forensic cases. She did the initial work
blind, without consulting contemporary descriptions or images. The skin
colour and texture, eyes and hair were then added by Janice Aitken, of
the university's art college.
The head was commissioned by the
Richard III Society, and was unveiled at the Society of Antiquaries of
London, which owns one of the oldest portraits of Richard, painted like
the one in the National Portrait Gallery in Tudor times, but assumed to
draw on a Plantagenet original. Since the bones can give no clue to hair
and eye colouring, Aitken used the portraits for the final details, but
based the stubbled ruddy cheeks on observation of 21st century men who
spend a lot of time outdoors.
The head was unveiled by Phil Stone,
chair of the society, as "His Grace Richard Plantagenet, king of
England, France and lord of Ireland". Sarah Levitt, head of Leicester's
museums, called it "a stunning object", which will be one of the star
exhibits in the new visitor centre due to open next year, in an old
school building overlooking the find site.

Seriously, they had me with "a truculent jaw" imagery.

A bit of the Bard (also in question):

KING RICHARD III:
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
CATESBY:
Withdraw, my lord; I'll help you to a horse.

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